


In This Game

by chaifiction



Category: Ocean's (Movies)
Genre: Every Person In These Movies Is A Disaster Gay, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-04-21 06:21:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14278761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaifiction/pseuds/chaifiction
Summary: A series of short missing scenes from the Ocean's Trilogy. Active WIP.





	1. Control

Rusty is wound tightly all night. From the moment he steps in the room, each move he makes feels like he is pushing through molasses. Every game lately feels like the longest game of his life, but this one might actually be it. He breaks out of the room mid-hand, leaning against the wall and taking a deep breath. He can escape for a drink, but not much more. The longer he leaves them in there alone, the more chance the game could slip away from him. Not much of a chance, but it’s there nonetheless, and another loss of control is the last thing Rusty needs tonight.

 He has been holding his breath for the last four years, through no fault of his own, but through the ridiculous fault of the faultiest man in the world. Yeah, Rusty wanted to go meet Danny at the jail, wanted to be able to throw a well placed jab at his prison-worn appearance and watch a smile appear against his will, but Danny likes control too, even if he’s worse at it than anyone Rusty knows. Danny hasn’t been in control for the past four years of his life, and if Rusty owes him anything, it’s the chance to clean himself up, to get his mojo back, to decide when, if at all, he wants to see Rusty.

This doesn’t stop Rusty from holding his breath, downing another whiskey, and staring up at the girls spinning around in their boxes but not really seeing them, the cold of his glass against his face keeping him there.

When he sees Danny sitting at his round table of fools, he remembers that control has never been either of their strong suits. Danny looks different than when Rusty last saw him- greyer, more tired, but the shine in his eye when Rusty interrupts his story about the head masks is the same as the day before he left. Rusty breathes, and slaps his cards down on the table.

They walk out of the hotel, past the flashing cameras with their heads down, and walk down the street, saying nothing but everything- as they do. Rusty glances over at Danny, at the way the street lamps illuminate one half of his face, catching the lines that the years have put there. Danny catches his eye and half smiles at him, and all of a sudden it rushes into hismind _he came to me_ and that’s all he can think. Rusty grabs Danny’s hand, and drags him abruptly into an alley along the sidewalk.

Danny frowns, looking around.

“What? Did you see something?”

Rusty just pushes Danny’s shoulder roughly against the wall and says, low and torn.

“Danny.”

Danny smiles then, roguish and familiar and not at all tired. “What?”

“Incan matrimonial head masks?” Rusty manages, and he can’t stop his voice from sounding hopeless.

His arm slips down across Danny’s chest, and before Rusty can say another word, Danny’s finger is in his belt loop and his other hand is around Rusty’s neck, fingers tangled in his hair, and he’s being pulled forward into him.

The rough of Danny’s just shaved face scratches Rusty’s, and he groans into the heat as their mouths hungrily meet, years between them slipping away with Rusty’s tenuous sense of control. His hands fly up, wrapping around Danny’s neck, pulling him towards him roughly as he staggers back into the empty space. Danny grabs him by the hips then, swinging him around and slamming him against the wall. Rusty relishes in the feeling of it, the way his shirt snags against the brick, the way Danny pins him there, hands tightly gripping against the slip and slide of silk.

Danny huffs against Rusty’s neck, where he has moved, nipping at the tender skin there.

“Why do you wear these stupid things?” He pulls at the fabric in frustration.

“Feels good,” Rusty breathes, head lolling back, eyes closed, mind spinning. 

Danny laughs then, kissing in the dip of his collarbone, down towards the first button, and Rusty whines, flattening his hips against Danny’s, grabbing at his lapel.

Danny steps back though, and runs his hand across Rusty’s chest, fingers slipping over the soft fabric, and he can’t contain a grin.

“Look at you. Rusty Ryan.”

Rusty collapses back against the wall and runs a hand through his hair, pulling his swollen lip into his mouth and chewing.

“Well, jeez, Danny,” he manages, reaching out and smoothing down Danny’s shirt. 

“Well, jeez,” Danny replies.

They ride down the street in Rusty’s convertible, the city sleeping around them and the top down, warm air whipping past their heads.

“You look bored,” says Danny, glancing over at him.

“I am bored,” says Rusty, taking his eyes off the road just for a second, and the unspoken passes between them.

_Not anymore._


	2. Popcorn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is SO short but I love dialogue!!!! Danny and Rusty go on what isn't a date.

The car door shuts with a thunk as Danny climbs out of the passenger side, squinting in the sunlight at the giant tent looming ahead. He glances over at Rusty, who is checking his hair in the rearview mirror.

“The circus? Really?”

“Yeah, really,” Rusty replies, jumping out of the car. “What, you don’t trust me?

“Of course I trust you, I just also wouldn’t put it past you to drag me to the circus in the middle of a job.”

“Relax, Danny, the job hasn’t started yet. But don’t worry, this is strictly business.”

“Strictly business?” Danny smiles. “Not a ruse to get me to buy you popcorn?”

Rusty smirks. “What, do you want this to be a date?”

Danny opens his mouth to respond, but Rusty plows on. “It can be a date. I didn’t want to distract you on the job, but if you want to watch me eat a bucket of popcorn, that’s fine by me.”

“Oh, like you weren’t going to get popcorn anyways.”

“No, I was considering cotton candy.”

Danny pictures Rusty, sugar melting on his lips, staining them pink and sticky, and shakes his head.

“No, cotton candy is worse. Come on, I’ll get you some popcorn.”

Rusty grins and sticks his hands in his pockets, following Danny into the dark and noisy shade of the tent. 


	3. Chicago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny has to leave, again.

“Really?” Rusty frowns, rolling over and throwing the duvet off his legs.

Danny turns around from where he stands at the dresser, buttoning his shirt.

“Don’t look so grumpy.”

“Do you really have to go to Chicago?” Rusty rubs his hand across his eyes, bleary from sleep.

“You’re the one who said we need one more,” Danny points out, reaching for his shoes.

Rusty raises himself up on one arm, tracking Danny’s movement.

“If you’ll recall, I didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t have to,” Danny says, and he’s right.

“Shouldn’t I be doing the recruitment traveling? Mr. Parole?”

Danny almost laughs at that.

“Rus, you’ll manage two days without me. Trust me, we want this kid. Bobby spoke very highly of him, and if he knows Bobby, it might be best not to send you. You know how Caldwell feels about you.”

Rusty scowls. “That was one job, and he screwed me, not the other way around.”

Danny strides over to the bed and leans over him, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. He pulls back slightly.

“It’s just two days.”

Rusty reaches up and wraps his hand around Danny’s neck, pulling him in and kissing him more forcefully this time, pouring his childish pleas of "stay" into it. Danny responds, but pries Rusty’s hand away and stands up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Rusty flops back against the pillows as Danny grabs his jacket and bag.

“You just survived four years without me, Rusty.”

“Exactly,” Rusty grumbles as the door swings shut.

* * *

 

The phone rings that night, and Rusty’s heart jumps into his throat. Everything that could possibly have gone wrong flies into his head. A revenge ambush by Caldwell, maybe, but mostly, arrest. When he picks up the phone, though, it's just Danny’s smooth voice, and not through the tinny reception of a station phone.

“Hey, Rus. Dead without me yet?”

“I was going to say the same thing to you,” Rusty replies, trying to disguise the relief in his voice. He knows Danny can hear it, but in his rare mercy, says nothing.

“So hey, I met the kid,” Danny says.

“Good news?”

“I think so. He took the ticket, at least.”

Rusty sat down on the double bed, kicking his shoes off. He can imagine Danny sitting in the same position, thousands of miles away, shoes off, shirt unbuttoned and scotch on hand. It’s a lot better than the image he’s had of Danny for the past few years, sitting alone on a hard cot in ugly prison khakis.

“We might have an interesting situation when he sees you, though.” Rusty can practically hear Danny’s smirk through the phone.

“Why? Because I’m so damn beautiful?”

“He’s Bobby Caldwell’s kid.”

Rusty stops. “No shit.”

“Yeah.”

Rusty runs a hand through his hair. “Last time I saw him he was, well, a kid. Running around with a toy truck or some shit.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not a kid anymore.” Danny sighs. “Although he is, kind of. Just a damn successful, thieving kid.”

“Are we going to have a problem?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. He doesn’t seem to want to have much to do with his old man, at least when it comes to work. He won’t know or care about your history. Rusty, you’re going to love this guy.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because he’s an irritating piece of shit, just like you used to be.” Danny smiles.

“Oh, thanks. You’re not the easiest to handle yourself,” Rusty fires back, but with no real passion, because of course Danny is right.

“Well, good thing you love to handle me,” Danny’s voice floats over the line.

“I’d rather you handle me,” Rusty half teases, but the huff of Danny’s breath, all the way from Chicago, is no joke.

“Tell me more about that,” Danny says, and his voice is low.

Rusty grins.

“Prison’s changed you, Danny.”

“Don’t be a tease, Rusty.”

Rusty sobers for a second. “Danny. You don’t know how much I missed you.”

“I know, Rus.”

“No, you don’t. Every night, I was alone.”

“You don’t expect me to believe that.”

Rusty huffs in frustration. “No, Danny. Even when I was with someone, I was alone. It wasn’t you.” His voice drops low. “The way you touch me, Danny. It’s not like anyone else.”

He grips the fabric of his pant leg. Danny has gone silent on his side of the line.

“When you put your hands on me…. I can’t breathe. I have to be in control, I have to be in charge. But with you, all that slips away.”

“Rus. You know. I can never keep my hands off of you. Jesus. You look so gorgeous when you’re… undone.”

Danny sounds strange, his rich, deep voice tinny in the little phone, captured a million miles away before flying into Rusty’s ear.

“Then undo me, Danny,” Rusty hears himself saying. “Grab me. I love the feeling of your finger around my wrist. Like you’re going to leave a mark.”

The breathing over the phone line has turned heavy, and Rusty can almost hear the slide of a zipper from somewhere below the phone. He himself shifts on the pillows of the bed, taking his hand and palming himself through his pants.

“Fuck Danny. I love when you’re on me. The way you lay your body on top of mine. The weight of it. The way you kiss my neck, my collarbone. Holding me there so I can’t even move. Nobody else can do that to me.”

“Those dumb shirts are always in the way,” Danny says in a ragged voice.

“You should just rip my shirts.” He almost can’t believe he said it. Danny apparently can’t either.

“Really? Your shirts?”

“Well, not all of them. Come on. But sometimes. The old ones.”

Rusty can feel Danny’s smile over the phone, but undeterred he reaches down to pop open the button of the shirt he’s wearing now, fingers slipping over the shiny surface.

“Can you take your shirt off for me, now?” Danny says, low.

“I am,” Rusty replies, finally popping the last button and wriggling one arm out.

“Good.” Danny’s breathing hitches.

“God, I love your body, Rusty. Do you know how beautiful you are? Every inch. Your fucking hips. You know my hands fit perfectly there. Like they were made for me.”

Rusty slides a finger into the dip of his hipbone and pushes his hand past his waistband, wrapping a hand around himself, groaning as he listens to Danny’s voice.

“Keep talking.”

“And that mouth, Rusty. Do you know how hard it is to focus on anything when you walk around all day, parading it around, sucking on your fingers? Watching your lips wrapped around some… stupid lollipop, your cheeks hollowed out around it? All I can think about is you down on your knees, your lips wrapped around me, fucking blue eyes all blown out, looking up at me-” Danny chokes, his voice cuts off. “Fuck, Rus, I wish you were here.”

“I told you… not to go to Chicago.” Rusty slides his hand over his cock rapidly now, his stomach tightening and his insides aching. “If you were here you could fuck me.”

Danny groans over the phone, his breath quickening, and Rusty knows he’s close, these years apart haven’t done them any good, and images flash through his mind desperately, Danny hovering over him, Rusty’s hands pinned over his head, looking up at Danny as he slides down his body, watching his head roll back, Danny, there and solid and filling him and surrounding him all at once, and with a deep groan to match Danny’s, he’s losing himself, all over his stomach and just missing the silk shirt still draped over one arm.

Rusty laughs instantly, reality flooding back to him. “Danny, what are we, 16?”

“It’s a little late for that judgment, I think.” Danny’s voice comes across the line, and it still sounds so far away.

“Come back from Chicago.” Rusty is unable to stop the words from falling out of his mouth.

“I’m coming.”

The word unspoken: home.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danny and Rusty are soft boys in love! And they say dumb corny embarrassing shit to each other in private and nobody can convince me otherwise!!! I'm going to try actually write more chapters to this!!! If anyone has any prompts, or a missing scene they want to see, or a background look at anything from the movies, just let me know!! I may post a later chapter a bit ahead of time, just because I've already written a scene nearer to the end of 11, I'm still deciding (let me know if you want to see it sooner than later!). Thanks for reading!


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